Easily Make Your Own Swimwear Bottoms Pattern!

It’s very easy to make your own basic swimwear bottoms pattern from an existing pair! You’ll need a pair of basic swimsuit bottoms, a pencil, and 2 pieces of paper or fabric (sometimes I use interfacing scraps) large enough to trace the pattern onto.

(P.S. If you are using this post for the Wonder Woman-Inspired Costume, make sure to raise the waistline of the pattern…I raised mine more than I needed, then, cut off excess fabric when making the bottoms, once I finalized where I wanted the waist seam to be).

I made my pattern an “on the fold” pattern. We’ll start with the back first. Just lay the swim bottoms flat (center back lined up with the paper edge or a straight edge) and roughly trace around the outer edge.

Here is my sketch…mark size and “back” and “cut on the fold” where necessary.

Add your seam allowance. I like to add a 3/8″ seam allowance because I typically add a 3/8″ elastic to the top and leg holes and I serge the side and crotch seams (my 4-thread serger stitch is about 3/8″).

The front of the bottoms are a little bit trickier to trace. Fold the front in half and flatten the upper edge, lining the center fold up with the straight edge of your paper/fabric. Roughly trace everything that is remaining flat. If you’ll notice in the image below, I just marked above and below where the side seam was and then, filled in after tracing. Once you meet an area that is warping because it’s being pulled back, stop tracing and…

Carefully, straighten out the crotch area to trace. Try to keep the top of the center front in place as best you can. Now, finish your rough trace. Again, just marking to the side where the crotch seam is and filling it in after tracing.

Add your seam allowance and “front” and “cut on the fold” to the front piece. And, make some swimwear bottoms! 🙂